Synthesis of silver nanoparticles by soft chemical method: Effect of reducing agent concentration

Silver nanoparticles have successfully synthesized by using tri-sodium citrate as reducing agent and Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as capping agent and demonstrated the effect of reducing agent concentration on size variation. Broadened XRD peaks confirmed the formation of nanosized silver nanoparticles with face centred cubic structure and is consistent with FESEM studies. Further XRD results confirmed the decrease of mean particle size with increase of reducing agent concentration. FESEM images illustrate the formation of spherical silver nanoparticles in nanometre regime. EDAX analysis confirms the presence of elemental silver indicating that silver peak is correctly identified ensuring the absence of impurities in the prepared nanoparticles. UV-Visible absorption studies revealed the blue shift of surface Plasmon resonance (SPR) band owing to decrease of particle size with increase of reducing agent concentration.